West End Festival: The Best of the West

Today kicks off the West End Festival 2013 (now in it's 18th year) and I thought it might be fun to make a little list of my picks out of the many things there are to see and do during festival time (which will run until Sunday the 30th of June). And believe me, there are lots of events on and projects to get involved in,  thanks to over 100 contributors and organisations. I think that the bigger events such as the parade on Sunday 9th of June are a given and have instead looked at smaller events that might not be as widely-known as the recurring large ones. I have listed the events in order of date, and so without further ado - my top 5 picks for WEF13 include:

Be-Bop-a-Lula #3 at the Grovesnor Cafe
Tonight! The third instalment of rockabilly club night will run at the Grovesnor Cafe from 8:00pm to 1:00am. With live music from the Shivering Sheiks vs The Meatmen, milkshakes, a twist contest and 50s makeovers, I am all over this bad boy. Rockabilly attire is encouraged but not required for this night of raucous rock n' roll.

Saturday Afternoon BBQ's at Bothy Restaurant terrace
Nothing says Summer like the smell of a tasty barbecue and Bothy Restaurant on Ruthven Lane has it sorted with their grills to eat in or take away every Saturday of the festival starting Saturday 1st June and lasts all day. Yum!

Lansdowne International Film Festival
From Sunday 2nd June running every Sunday evening until the end of the festival, The Lansdowne bar & kitchen will be screening different films from world cinema in their Glasshouse area. The Lansdowne is a lovely venue, full of friendly staff and with free popcorn and two pizzas for a tenner thrown into the mix it sounds like lights, camera, awesome to me.

Pingleton at Hillhead Bookclub
One of my favourite West End hangouts, Hillhead Bookclub will be upping their love of ping pong for the tournament to end all tournaments on Monday 24th June at 8pm. They'll bring the cocktails and ping pong tables, you bring your game face!

Night of the Living Dead at the Grovesnor Cafe 
The Grovesnor Cafe invite you do perfect your zombie walk and moan as they celebrate the release of World War Z. On Friday the 28th of June from 8:00pm to 1:00am they are promising a night of ghoultastic fun and encourage guests to dress up as zombies, with a £250 prize for the best dressed! I just hope the DJ plays the Monster Mash...

I hope to get along to as many events as I can - although I will be in London the day of the big parade. These are just a taster of what's on at this year's West End Festival and the full calendar can be found at the WEF13 website. 

Are you going to any events at the West End Festival? Which ones are you excited about? WIll I see YOU doing the Monster Mash dressed as a zombie?

Thanks for reading!